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Sunday, December 26, 2010

We made our reservations about two weeks before Christmas and had to make payment in advance, they probably wanted to prevent people from not showing up and wasting the space. I didn't know this before, but the Ritz Carlton is packed at Christmas. When we arrived, just slightly before 2.30pm, the Greenhouse, just opposite Chihuly Lounge was filled with people, probably enjoying the lunch buffet. The Chihuly Lounge looked kind of deserted in comparison, but that was because the Afternoon Tea Buffet only starts at 2.30pm. It started filling up about 30 minutes later.

Christmas tree in the lobby.

View from my seat, I was next to the buffet table \o/ The place had a really nice ambience.

Table setting. They had honey from Heidard!

Savory items.

Desserts! There was also a live station where the chef prepared warm chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream. IT WAS AWESOME!

Iced peach tea. Instead of regular ice cubes, they had little balls of frozen tea, this prevented the tea from becoming diluted as the ice melted. Really nice presentation.

Lychee martini, yummy! There was a really friendly guy, carrying a tray of these around.

The buffet had a limited spread, but everything was really good. The food was refilled frequently, thus ensuring that they didn't turn cold from sitting out there for too long and service was very attentive, with plates being cleared once you left the table to get other stuff. The only bad thing was the scones were not particularly good and they didn't have my favorite dessert, bread pudding!

At about $50, I thought the price was quite reasonable. I'd definitely want to return and try the regular weekend afternoon tea next time!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

The famous cheesecake from Shiseido Parlour in Ginza, Tokyo, is back in Tangs!

When I went over to buy some to try, I didn't know where to look. It wasn't in the basement with the other food stuff and I thought it would be a little ridiculous to go over to the Shiseido cosmetics counter and be like um where's the cheesecakes? But it was a good thing I just went over anyway cause the counter for the cheesecake was right in front of the area where they sell their better known beauty products.

Like all things Japanese, the cheesecakes were beautifully packaged.

A box of 3 costs a whopping $18! Luckily, there was a 20% discount when I went there on Saturday so that softened the blow a little bit.

But I have to say, it was quite worth the price. The cheese under the thin layer of butter crust was wonderfully rich and soft and had just the right amount of sweetness.

Together with some English Breakfast Tea, it made the perfect tea time snack! :P

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Yay I'm so happy that Fabio won Survivor. I was rooting for Brenda but after she was voted off thanks to Holly, I started to root for Fabio instead.

King Fabio on his throne, talking about his 'loyal' subjects.

I'm glad the jury was able to see right through Sash and his phony smile. But then again, he didn't do a good job of hiding his shadiness, anyone with half a brain could see through that. I was rolling my eyes so hard when he suddenly declared that Fabio was his BFF after Fabio won the last immunity challenge.

I'm surprised they voted Dan off instead of Holly when they had 5 people left. I don't understand how anyone can see Dan as a bigger threat for the million dollars than Holly. Sure, no one on the jury hated Dan, but I don't think any of them would think of him as deserving of the million dollars either. He was useless at challenges, had zero strategy and to top it off, he's actually a rich guy and from the sounds of it, wasn't afraid to let the other Survivors know about his wealth either. So why would anyone vote for him to win the million dollars?

Another surprise was Dan's 180 degree turn after getting voted off. He turned from useless to old man to scary old man. Seriously. He looked like a mobster, like he was going to hire someone to kill Chase or something.

Surprise #3: Jane. From nice old lady to...

The crypt keeper!!!

Also, isn't Jane supposed to be poor and have the saddest story in the world according to Marty? In the reunion she said she makes $50,000 annually! I wish I made that much in a year! Anyway, I can't believe she won Fan Favorite, especially with how she acted when she knew they were voting her off.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

After reading that Din Tai Fung had combined their award winning xiao long bao with the famous French truffles, I had to try it. After all, it's not every day that you get to have truffles. They are highly expensive and truffle oil is often used instead in cooking as a substitute for the real thing. Din Tai Fung's truffles were specially air flown in from France.

Sign outside the restaurant @ Paragon.

Chefs hard at work, each dumpling has exactly 18 folds.

The dumplings are priced at $3.20 each or $14.80 for 5 or $28 for 10.

We ordered 5 to try and it was delicious! The waitress told us not to use any sauce as it tasted best on its own. The truffle was blended in perfectly with the minced pork and did not overpower it, as truffles tend to have a very strong smell and taste. Will definitely order again if I go back. And it better be soon, cos truffles are available only in autumn and winter in France IIRC.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Let's Sweets is a Japanese buffet with outlets in both Bugis Junction and Plaza Singapura. Went there on a Sunday at 3pm and there was a choice of either Tea Time Buffet ($9.80) and Lunch Buffet ($16.80) both allowed you to eat all you can for one hour. The Lunch Buffet let you choose from both the savories and desserts sections of the buffet and Tea Time Buffet meant you could only choose from the desserts.

The waitress will show you to your table and there will be a timer on the table. When you're settled the staff will press the start button and it'll begin to countdown from 50 minutes. Once time is up, it'll begin beeping, much like a alarm clock. I think you can just stay there from one hour though, cause the time you started eating is printed on the receipt.

Now with a name like Let's Sweets, you'd expect the desserts to be the best part about the place. But nooooo, almost everything from the desserts station tasted crappy, from the cheese cake to the parfaits.

I ordered a green tea parfait thinking it had a small scoop of ice cream of it, but it turned out to be hard cream! What. The NY Cheesecake didn't look or taste like any cheesecake I've ever had. Instead of a biscuit base, it had a sponge cake base. The cheese was hard and quite bland. The chiffon cakes were ok but taste like the cakes you find in your neighborhood bakeries. The only desserts that I liked were the pear tart and crepes which were made to order.

The savories were actually pretty good. I liked the vegetable soup, fried wanton and pizza. The pizza was still hot when I got it, as they had just put a new one out. It was very nicely cheesy but would have been better if they had put something other than corn on it. LOL first time eating corn pizza. Couldn't they just put some ham on it instead.

My favorite part of the buffet was the fried chicken. It's the same one that they serve at Ajisen, yum!

But they should definitely improve on the desserts, otherwise the place will soon become deserted, geddit?!

No seriously, even I could bake something better than that. If the chefs can seriously taste the cakes and say it doesn't need improving, there's something wrong with their palates.

I think I must have had too much of the champagne cos I bought these...

The door gift.

Ribbon ring.

Earrings with grey heart.

I finally got to watch Harry Potter today. And I almost died at this scene:

WUT.

LOL I donut remember this scene being in the book?! And it was weird seeing them topless since I just watched the first movie again a few weeks before, and they looked so widdle back then.

A more innocent time.

But then again, looking at how the scene was described in the book now, the topless-ness is not totally uncalled for.

"Who wouldn’t prefer him, what woman would take you, you are nothing, nothing, nothing to him,” crooned Riddle-Hermione, and she stretched like a snake and entwined herself around Riddle-Harry, wrapping him in a close embrace: Their lips met.